Integrated repeater

ABSTRACT

An integrated repeater is provided that places a donor antenna and a server antenna proximate to null-field points from the server antenna and the donor antenna, respectively, thereby increasing the isolation level between the donor antenna and the server antenna.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S.Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 14/705,810, filed May 6, 2015,which claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 61/989,379, filed May 6, 2014, which are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject matter described herein relates to wireless networks, andmore particularly to an improved integrated repeater that maximizes theisolation between a donor antenna and a server antenna by placing theserver antenna in a physical location where the donor antenna has atransmission null and/or vice-versa.

BACKGROUND

The gain of a repeater is to a large extent determined by the amount ofisolation that can be achieved between the donor and server antennas ofthe repeater (see diagram 100 of FIG. 1). The higher the isolation, thehigher the potential gain of the repeater.

When the donor and server antennas are in the same physical enclosure,or at least in close proximity to each other, maximizing the isolationlevel becomes increasingly difficult. Typically, repeaters withintegrated donor and server antennas utilize highly directive antennason either the donor or the server side, or more commonly on both thedonor and the server side to achieve high isolation. An example of acommonly used architecture is to use directive patch antennas on a largeground plane to provide high isolation levels. When the operatingfrequency of the repeater is high (around 2 GHz and higher), this is areasonably good strategy as the wavelength of the signals is relativelyshort. However, at lower frequencies, such as the 3GPP bands 5 and 12(700-900 MHz), the wavelength of the repeated signal is long (300-400mm) which means that the physical size of a patch antenna and groundplane needs to be large to achieve high isolation.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, an integrated repeater is disclosed that maximizes theisolation between a donor antenna and the server antenna by placing theserver antenna in a physical location where the donor antenna has atransmission null and/or vice-versa.

The integrated repeater may comprise a repeater housing. The integratedrepeater may comprise a donor antenna. The donor antenna may be disposedwithin the repeater housing. The donor antenna may be configured totransmit and/or receive a wireless signal from a base station. The donorantenna may be configured to emit a transmission field having one ormore null-field points.

The integrated repeater may comprise a server antenna. The serverantenna may be disposed within the repeater housing. The server antennamay be physically separated from the donor antenna. The server antennamay be configured to transmit and/or receive a wireless signal from oneor more wireless devices. The server antenna may be disposed proximateto a location of at least one of the one or more null-field points ofthe transmission field from the donor antenna. The serer antenna may bedisposed as such for signal isolation between the server antenna and thedonor antenna.

In some implementations, a plurality of donor antennas may be disposedwithin the repeater housing. The donor antennas may emit one or moretransmission fields that have a plurality of null-field points withinthe repeater housing. A plurality of server antennas may be disposedwithin the repeater housing. Individual ones of the plurality of serverantennas may be disposed proximate to individual ones of the pluralityof null-field points within the repeater housing.

The one or more donor antennas and/or the one or more server antennasmay be dipole antennas, multiband antennas and/or other forms ofantennas.

In some variation, at least one of the one or more null-field points ofthe signals emitted from the donor antenna and/or the server antenna maybe aligned with the repeater housing.

In some variations, the signals transmitted by the donor antenna and/orthe server antenna are orthogonally polarized. The orthogonallypolarized signals transmitted by the donor antenna may be orthogonal tothe orthogonally polarized signals transmitted by the server antenna.

In another aspect, a method of configuring an integrated repeater isdescribed. The method may include providing a donor antenna. The donorantenna configured to transmit and/or receive a wireless signal from abase station. The donor antenna may emit a signal having one or morenull-field points.

The method may include providing a server antenna. The server antennamay be configured to transmit and/or receive a wireless signal from oneor more wireless devices. The server antenna may emit a signal havingone or more null-field points.

The position of at least one of the one or more null-field points of thesignal emitted from the donor antenna may be determined. The positon ofat least one of the one or more null-field points of the signal emittedfrom the server antenna may be determined.

The donor antenna may be positioned proximate to at least one of the oneor more null-field points of the signal emitted from the server antenna.The server antenna may be positioned proximate to at least one of theone or more null-field points of the signal emitted from the donorantenna.

The method may include determining the dimensions of a repeater housing.The dimensions of the repeater housing may be based on a requirementthat at least one of the positions of the one or more null-field pointsof the signal emitted by the donor antenna and at least one of thepositions of the one or more null-field points of the signal emitted bythe server antenna are within the repeater housing when the donorantenna and the server antenna are disposed in the repeater housing. Thedimensions of the repeater housing may be based on having at least oneof the one or more null-field points of the signals emitted from thedonor antenna and/or the server antenna being aligned with the repeaterhousing.

Implementations of the current subject matter can include, but are notlimited to, systems and methods consistent including one or morefeatures are described as well as articles that comprise a tangiblyembodied machine-readable medium operable to cause one or more machines(e.g., computers, mobile communication devices, etc.) to result inoperations described herein. Similarly, computer systems are alsodescribed that may include one or more processors and one or morememories coupled to the one or more processors. A memory, which caninclude a computer-readable storage medium, may include, encode, store,or the like one or more programs that cause one or more processors toperform one or more of the operations described herein. Computerimplemented methods consistent with one or more implementations of thecurrent subject matter can be implemented by one or more data processorsresiding in a single computing system or multiple computing systems.Such multiple computing systems can be connected and can exchange dataand/or commands or other instructions or the like via one or moreconnections, including but not limited to a connection over a network(e.g. the Internet, a wireless wide area network, a local area network,a wide area network, a wired network, or the like), via a directconnection between one or more of the multiple computing systems, etc.

The details of one or more variations of the subject matter describedherein are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the descriptionbelow. Other features and advantages of the subject matter describedherein will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from theclaim. While certain features of the currently disclosed subject matterare described for illustrative purposes in relation to an enterpriseresource software system or other business software solution orarchitecture, it should be readily understood that such features are notintended to be limiting. The claim that follows this disclosure isintended to define the scope of the protected subject matter.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, show certain aspects of the subject matterdisclosed herein and, together with the description, help explain someof the principles associated with the disclosed implementations. In thedrawings,

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a repeater having a donor antenna and aserver antenna;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating isolation between a donor antenna and aserver antenna;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating isolation among two donor antennas andtwo server antennas; and

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a radiation pattern for onedonor/server pair of antennas within a repeater housing.

FIG. 5 illustrates a method of configuring an integrated repeater inaccordance with one or more aspects of the presently disclosed subjectmatter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The current subject matter provides a departure from the traditionaldesign approach and form factor for a repeater with integrated donor andserver antenna. The basic principle is to maximize the isolation betweenthe donor antenna and the server antenna by placing the server antennain a physical location where the donor antenna has a transmission nulland/or vice-versa. One example of such an antenna arrangement isillustrated in diagram 200 of FIG. 2. In this arrangement, the donor andserver antennas are both dipole antennas. Dipole antennas have nulls inthe radiation pattern in the y direction as shown in FIG. 2. Therefore,in an ideal world, the isolation between the donor and server antennasshown below is infinite. Of course, under practical conditions theisolation would not be infinite.

This current subject matter can also be applied to cover multi-bandscenarios as well where the donor and server antennas are multibandantennas or, to the case where multiple donor and server antennas areused. An example of a physical antenna arrangement for a quad-bandrepeater is illustrated in diagram 300 of FIG. 3.

The radiation pattern for one donor/server pair of antennas within therepeater housing is illustrated in diagram 400 of FIG. 4. As can beseen, the nulls in the pattern in the z-direction are clearly visible.These nulls are aligned within the repeater housing leading to anincrease in the isolation between the donor and server antennas.

In the examples shown, dipole antennas were used to illustrate theconcept. However, any type of antenna may be used as a donor or server.The type of antenna used will define the location of the radiation nullsand hence the relative positioning of the antennas within the housing.For the dipole case shown, the resultant repeater will have a longtubular shape for example.

A second issue to consider when optimizing the isolation between thedonor and the server is the polarization of the antennas. In addition toplacing the antennas in the position of a relative null, the antennascan be designed with orthogonal polarization. This will increase theisolation and also make the design more robust against reduction inisolation due to scattering from nearby objects such as walls. Forexample, the donor antennas could be vertically polarized and the serverantenna could be horizontally polarized.

FIG. 5 illustrates a method 500 for of configuring an integratedrepeater in accordance with one or more aspects of the presentlydisclosed subject matter. The operations described herein with respectto method 500 may be performed by one or more of the elements describedherein. Certain ones of the operations of method 500 may be performed byhuman action, computer hardware, computer software, computer firmwareand/or by other methods. The operations illustrated in FIG. 5 areillustrative only. In some variations, one or more operations may beomitted from the method 500. In some variations, one or more additionaland/or alternative operations may be included in method 500.

At 501, a donor antenna may be provided. The donor antenna may beconfigured to transmit and/or receive a wireless signal from a basestation. The donor antenna may emit a signal having one or morenull-field points. In some implementations a plurality of donor antennasmay be provided. The one or more donor antennas may be dipole antennas,multiband antennas, or other form of antenna.

At 502, a server antenna may be provided. The server antenna may beconfigured to transmit and/or receive a wireless signal from one or morewireless devices. The server antenna may emit a signal having one ormore null-field points. In some implementations, a plurality of serverantennas may be provided. The one or more server antennas may be dipoleantennas, multiband antennas, or other form of antenna.

At 503, the position of at least one of the one or more null-fieldpoints of the signal emitted from the donor antenna may be determined.

At 504, the positon of at least one of the one or more null-field pointsof the signal emitted from the server antenna may be determined.

At 505, the dimensions of a repeater housing may be determined. Thedimensions of the repeater housing may be based on a requirement that atleast one of the positions of the one or more null-field points of thesignal emitted by the donor antenna and at least one of the positions ofthe one or more null-field points of the signal emitted by the serverantenna are within the repeater housing when the donor antenna and theserver antenna are disposed in the repeater housing. In someimplementations, the dimensions of the repeater housing may bedetermined based on having at least one of the one or more null-fieldpoints of the signals emitted from the donor antenna and/or the serverantenna being aligned with the repeater housing. With reference to FIG.2, the positions of at least one of the one or more null-field points ofthe donor antenna and/or the server antenna may be used to determine thedimensions of the repeater housing 201. FIG. 2 shows two dimensions, pand q, of the repeater housing 201. The positions of the one or morenull-field points may be used to determine the third dimension of therepeater housing. In some implementation, the positions of the one ormore null-field points associated with the donor antenna and/orassociated with the server antenna may be utilized to determine a shapefor the repeater housing. The repeater housing is shown in FIG. 2 ashaving a regular polygonal shape, however, this disclosure anticipatesany shape of housing for the repeater, including irregular shapes.

At 506, the donor antenna may be positioned proximate to at least one ofthe one or more null-field points of the signal emitted from the serverantenna.

At 507, the server antenna may be positioned proximate to at least oneof the one or more null-field points of the signal emitted from thedonor antenna.

At 508, the signals transmitted by the donor antenna and/or the serverantenna may be orthogonally polarized. A plane a plane for theorthogonally polarized signals emitted by the server antenna may beselected. The plane selected may be one such that the plane of theorthogonally polarized signals emitted by the server antenna isorthogonal to the plane for the orthogonally polarized signals emittedby the donor antenna.

One or more aspects or features of the subject matter described hereincan be realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry,specially designed application specific integrated circuits (ASICs),field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) computer hardware, firmware,software, and/or combinations thereof. These various aspects or featurescan include implementation in one or more computer programs that areexecutable and/or interpretable on a programmable system including atleast one programmable processor, which can be special or generalpurpose, coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmitdata and instructions to, a storage system, at least one input device,and at least one output device. The programmable system or computingsystem may include clients and servers. A client and server aregenerally remote from each other and typically interact through acommunication network. The relationship of client and server arises byvirtue of computer programs running on the respective computers andhaving a client-server relationship to each other.

These computer programs, which can also be referred to as programs,software, software applications, applications, components, or code,include machine instructions for a programmable processor, and can beimplemented in a high-level procedural and/or object-orientedprogramming language, and/or in assembly/machine language. As usedherein, the term “machine-readable medium” refers to any computerprogram product, apparatus and/or device, such as for example magneticdiscs, optical disks, memory, and Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs),used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmableprocessor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machineinstructions as a machine-readable signal. The term “machine-readablesignal” refers to any signal used to provide machine instructions and/ordata to a programmable processor. The machine-readable medium can storesuch machine instructions non-transitorily, such as for example as woulda non-transient solid-state memory or a magnetic hard drive or anyequivalent storage medium. The machine-readable medium can alternativelyor additionally store such machine instructions in a transient manner,such as for example as would a processor cache or other random accessmemory associated with one or more physical processor cores.

The subject matter described herein can be embodied in systems,apparatus, methods, and/or articles depending on the desiredconfiguration. The implementations set forth in the foregoingdescription do not represent all implementations consistent with thesubject matter described herein. Instead, they are merely some examplesconsistent with aspects related to the described subject matter.Although a few variations have been described in detail above, othermodifications or additions are possible. In particular, further featuresand/or variations can be provided in addition to those set forth herein.For example, the implementations described above can be directed tovarious combinations and subcombinations of the disclosed featuresand/or combinations and subcombinations of several further featuresdisclosed above. In addition, the logic flows depicted in theaccompanying figures and/or described herein do not necessarily requirethe particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirableresults. Other implementations may be within the scope of the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An integrated repeater comprising: a housing; adonor antenna positioned within the housing, the donor antenna beingconfigured to transmit and/or receive a wireless signal from a basestation, the donor antenna emitting a transmission pattern in atransmission field, the transmission pattern having one or morenull-field points in the transmission field, at least one of the one ormore null-field points being directed toward the housing; and, a serverantenna positioned within the housing and physically separated from thedonor antenna, the server antenna being configured to transmit and/orreceive a wireless signal from one or more wireless devices, the serverantenna being positioned proximate to a location within the housing ofthe at least one of the one or more null-field points of thetransmission pattern from the donor antenna, the position of the serverantenna facilitating signal isolation between the server antenna and thedonor antenna.
 2. The integrated repeater as in claim 1, furthercomprising: a plurality of donor antennas within the housing, theplurality of donor antennas emitting one or more transmission patternsin the transmission field that have a plurality of null-field pointswithin the housing, and; a plurality of server antennas within therepeater housing, at least one of the plurality of server antennas beingdisposed proximate at least one of the plurality of null-field pointswithin the housing.
 3. The integrated repeater as in claim 1, whereinthe donor antenna is a dipole antenna.
 4. The integrated repeater as inclaim 1, wherein the server antenna is a dipole antenna.
 5. Theintegrated repeater as in claim 1, wherein the donor antenna is amultiband antenna.
 6. The integrated repeater as in claim 1, wherein theserver antenna is a multiband antenna.
 7. The integrated repeater as inclaim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more null-field points ofthe signals emitted from the donor antenna and/or the server antenna arealigned with the housing.
 8. The integrated repeater as in claim 1,wherein the signals transmitted by the donor antenna and/or the serverantenna are orthogonally polarized.
 9. The integrated repeater as inclaim 8, wherein the orthogonally polarized signals transmitted by thedonor antenna are orthogonal to the orthogonally polarized signalstransmitted by the server antenna.
 10. A method of configuring anintegrated repeater, the method comprising: providing a donor antennaconfigured to transmit and/or receive a wireless signal from a basestation, the donor antenna emitting a signal in a first transmissionpattern having one or more null-field points, at least one of the one ormore null-field points of the signal being emitted from the donorantenna and being directed into a housing that houses the donor antenna;providing a server antenna configured to transmit and/or receive awireless signal from one or more wireless devices, the server antennaemitting a signal in a second transmission pattern having one or morenull-field points, at least one of the one or more null-field points ofthe signal emitted from the server antenna being directed into thehousing; determining a position of the at least one of the one or morenull-field points of the signal emitted from the donor antenna;determining a positon of the at least one of the one or more null-fieldpoints of the signal emitted from the server antenna; positioning thedonor antenna within a repeater housing proximate to the position of atleast one of the one or more null-field points of the signal emittedfrom the server antenna; and positioning the server antenna within therepeater housing proximate to the position of at least one of the one ormore null-field points of the signal emitted from the donor antenna, thepositioning facilitating isolation between the server antenna and thedonor antenna.
 11. The method as in claim 10, further comprising:determining dimensions of the housing based on at least one of thepositions of the one or more null-field points of the signal emitted bythe donor antenna and at least one of the positions of the one or morenull-field points of the signal emitted by the server antenna beingwithin the housing when the donor antenna and the server antenna are inthe housing.
 12. The method as in claim 10, further comprising:providing a plurality of donor antennas that emit one or moretransmission fields having a plurality of null-field points within thehousing, and; providing a plurality of server antennas where individualones of the plurality of server antennas are disposed proximate toindividual ones of the plurality of null-field points.
 13. The method asin claim 10, wherein the donor antenna is a dipole antenna.
 14. Themethod as in claim 10, wherein the server antenna is a dipole antenna.15. The method as in claim 10, wherein the donor antenna is a multibandantenna.
 16. The method as in claim 10, wherein the server antenna is amultiband antenna.
 17. The method as in claim 10, wherein the dimensionsof the housing are determined based on having at least one of the one ormore null-field points of the signals emitted from the donor antennaand/or the server antenna being aligned with the repeater housing. 18.The method as in claim 10, further comprising: orthogonally polarizingthe signals transmitted by the donor antenna and/or the server antenna.19. The method as in claim 18, further comprising: selecting a plane forthe orthogonally polarized signals emitted by the server antenna suchthat the plane of the orthogonally polarized signals emitted by theserver antenna is orthogonal to the plane for the orthogonally polarizedsignals emitted by the donor antenna.